Lisa Risdale (Spackman)

Artistic Director of Two Thirds Sky

Lisa is Artistic Director of Two Thirds Sky and a mum of five-year old Sophie Emma. She developed a career originally as a performer and teacher and has had the privilege of working with; BBC Education, Bock and Vincenzi, V-TOL, Yael Flexer, Essential Alston (RADC), Ersatz Dance, and Rosemary Lee. After gaining an MA Choreography in 2005, Lisa founded Two Thirds Sky as a vehicle for collaborating with artists, and has received ACE funding and good critical reception. Projects have included; a collaboration with Kerry Nicholls, a dance and technology piece filmed in Russia for The Place Prize, a large scale cross-community promenade piece called Eventide (2015) and most recently a year-long project with Richard Alston Dance Company (2017). Lisa has lectured extensively throughout the UK and Europe including; De Montfort University, University of Leeds, Trinity Laban, University of Northampton, Middlesex University, and University of Bedfordshire. In 2014, Lisa was invited to deliver a Master class at the Centre National de Danse Contemporaine for the ‘World Dance Alliance’ summit in Angers. Whilst Senior Lecturer at UoB, Lisa lead BA Performing Arts 2008-2011 and wrote their MA Community Dance. 

Laura Gibson

Lead Artist

Throughout her career Laura has developed a dance practice spanning professional and community performance, choreography and teaching. In 2005 Laura became a founding member of Two Thirds Sky, performing nationally in all of the company's work to date, including; The Size of Thought (Kerry Nicholls, 2005), Hold (2011) performed at the Edinburgh Fringe, and Eventide (2015). Her screen performances include the dance film The Water Rail (2014) and a feature in BBC series ‘Tough Guy or Chicken’. Laura has worked with choreographers such as Shane Shambhu and on ACE funded dance projects with Henri Oguike and Arc Dance. Since 2003 Laura has worked with the Richard Alston Dance Company, delivering workshops nationally and most recently co-choreographed What Happens in the Silence, with RADC dancer Ihsaan De Banya for the innovative Alston Inspired Project (The Royal & Derngate October 2017). In 2014 Dance United (Yorkshire) commissioned her work Behind the Wall as part of their repertoire. Laura is an established technique teacher, facilitator and choreographer making work and delivering training in Universities and vocational training institutions nationally. In addition to her extensive professional practice Laura holds a BA (Hons) and PGCE in Dance.

Hannah Birch

Performer

Hannah Birch is a performer and dance artist whose work investigates notions of embodiment. This is through improvisatory processes and an understanding of how energy and flow initiates movement making. She also investigates movement from a theatrical/narrative perspective. She graduated from Trinity Laban in 2004 with BA (Hons) Dance Theatre and went on to receive an MA with distinction in Performance and Choreography from the University of Bedfordshire. She has danced professionally with Rosie Whitney Fish, and as a founder member of Two Thirds Sky she has performed in all the company's productions up to 2011. Hannah has been instrumental in delivering outreach projects since 2005 for TTS and in particular developing the company’s youth dance strand Dance2. 

Hannah’s other teaching has included with Youth Dance England (One Dance UK) Peculiar Productions, London Studio Centre, Stella Mann College, Bodyworks Performing Arts College and University of Bedfordshire. Her experience has included teaching technique at vocational level and delivering workshops for communities and organizations that promote dance and disability. Hannah in 2014 was appointed a Catalyst Artist in collaboration with visual artist Rachel Cherry for Dance Digital. This research explores the integration of a participatory audience, with the use of still images. In addition Hannah is an independent producer and runs The Floating Tea Picker.

Kamila Domańska

Performer

Kamila is a Polish dance artist and teacher based in the UK. Originally she was trained in Ballroom and Latin in one of the prestigious centres in Poland, Astra Szczecin, and competed in the National Championships in both 2005 and 2006.

In 2008 Kamila moved to the UK, where she undertook the BA (Hons) Dance at the University of Northampton developing her contemporary technique, understanding of dance theatre and contact improvisation. She was part of the undergraduate Playgrounds Dance Company in 2012/13, and in 2014 Kamila was fortunate enough to be a soloist in the groundbreaking Under the Vaulted Sky by Rosemary Lee. This was part of the MK International Festival. Kamila joined Two Thirds Sky in September 2013, as a graduate dancer and was mentored within the company to develop her dance leadership with young people. She performed professionally with TTS in a female version of Decipher (2014) and in Eventide (2015). 

Effie McGuire Ward

Performer

Effie is a graduate of Northern School of Contemporary Dance and Stella Mann College. Her first professional performance experience was with Shobana Jeyasingh Dance Company in Counterpoint (a site-specific piece in the fountains of Somerset House) which was later filmed for Sky3D.

Other choreographers she has performed with include; Lea Anderson, Gary Clarke, Helen Parlor, Urja Thakore and Gary Lambert. She was a performer and leader with Rosemary Lee on Under the Vaulted Sky for the Milton Keynes International Festival in 2014. Alongside this, Effie has been a company member of Ffin Dance since 2012. Eventide was Effie's debut with Two Thirds Sky in 2015. She is both a teacher for the company and performer in a new work, From the Window’s Gaze (2018) which is currently under development.

Theresa Haworth

Photographic and Video documentation

Theresa studied dance in Germany before continuing with a BA (hons) Dance, at University of Northampton. Here, she specialised in screen dance and photography and developed her independent research project after shadowing re-known dance photographer Rachel Cherry. 

Now working as a professional practitioner for Braiswick Photographic - she combines commercial work with independent projects, creating imagery for various dance and theatre organizations; including Two Thirds Sky, The Core at Corby Cube and the dance faculty at the University of Northampton.

Gareth Risdale

Production Management and Design

Gareth Risdale is a UK based designer and production manager who specialises in the conceit and technical realisation of multi-media live events and their mobilisation on tour. His early career was working in receiving theatre, before production managing a multi-million pound new build for DMU. His technical background underpins creative thinking; finding solutions for productions that are flexible enough to meet the challenges of theatre touring. He has been employed on a diverse range of projects and events, including Kate Bush’s "Before The Dawn", A$AP Rocky, the iTunes Festival, the Six Nations rugby tournament and the televised Manchester City FC championship celebration. Gareth has worked closely with RIP Productions Ltd on the creation of their touring portfolio; generating the theatrical and technological context for Champions of Magic, Jamie Raven, The Hollywood Special Effects Show, Jamie Raven, and Graeme of Thrones.